Photo special: New Gallant Youths ‘stand up’ for Batley Bulldogs in Boxing Day victory over Dewsbury Rams

Alfie Dean, who scored two of Batley’s six tries, Kieren Hepworth and Jonah Parsons all impressed Moxon, while fellow newcomers for the upcoming season Joe Arundel, Ollie Greensmith, Luca Atkinson and Samy Kibula, back at Mount Pleasant following a year at Castleford Tigers, all got a run out in the traditional annual friendly.

Moxon told the Reporter Series after the game:

“I trust the lads that have been here a long time. But I thought the new blokes really stood up. That is something that will add something to the group.

“Alfie Dean was excellent, I thought Jonah Parsons was excellent, I thought Kieren Hepworth was excellent when he came on. These are lads that we are taking a chance on to be fair but they have thrown their hat into the ring and they are going to cause me some problems.

“And when you toss in the dual reg as well then that is going to give me a proper headache. But they are good headaches to have and I am pleased to have them.

“I will look forward to making those decisions when they come.”

Batley had to be at their dogged best to recover from a fast Dewsbury start.

“They started strong,” admitted Moxon. “We won the toss and chose to go uphill first half on Boxing Day, on a really sticky patch, having had Christmas dinner! So it was always going to be tough that first ten, 15 minutes, and it was.

“Credit to Dewsbury for socking it to us in that opening period. But we weathered the storm and felt our way back into the game and eventually took control.

“We were playing down the hill in the second half so it was important that we dominated the field and the possession which I think we did for the majority.

“There are still areas where we can tidy up and put our foot on the throat a little bit more but overall I am really pleased.”

Opposite number Paul March felt his side delivered a good showing in the first half, before “tiredness” set in during the final 40 minutes.

He said: “It was a great run out. I thought the lads acquitted themselves really well in that first half and we came up with a couple of nice tries.

“The pleasing thing about that half is defensively we were aggressive and we controlled the game for the majority of that half. On the flip side, when you start getting tired bodies, we want people to do team first rather than individual first.

“It was a case of individual instead of team. That is what is going to be the message to the players after the new year. Once we get into those field positions we have got to pull the trigger a bit more.

“In the first half we asked a lot of questions and we can take a lot from that, but in the second half, we went individually rather than team first. There were a few times where I wanted us to play but because we were tired we took the easy option.

“I think we are heading on the right track. There were a lot of new players in there and hopefully those who have come can see there is some improvement from last year and we’ll keep building ready for that League 1 campaign.”

Commending everybody involved with the annual festive cracker, March added:

“Credit to both teams. When you are playing Boxing Day and you are having to sacrifice Christmas day to get ready, you have got to applaud both sides.”

Take a look at these photos as Batley Bulldogs retained the Roy Powell Trophy with victory over Dewsbury Rams.